Power converter modules (which, as referred to herein may also include power inverter modules) are standalone devices that may perform a variety of functions within a power converter system. For example, power converter modules may include boost converters, buck converters, half-bridge converters, and full-bridge converters. Conventional power converter modules generally include power converter circuitry utilizing silicon switching components. While effective in many applications, using power converter circuitry with silicon switching components generally limits the switching frequency at which the power converter circuitry can operate. The lower the switching frequency of the components in the power converter circuitry, the larger the filtering components such as inductors and capacitors utilized in a power converter system need to be. Accordingly, filtering components used along with power converter circuitry using silicon switching components must be quite large, thereby driving up the cost of the power converter system. Further, at high switching frequency, silicon switching components are often associated with relatively low efficiency and low power density.
Conventional design principles for silicon-based power converter modules focus on ways to reduce the size and/or cost of or remove additional components of the module. This is because the cost associated with silicon switching components in a conventional power converter module is negligible when compared to additional components of the module such as thermal management components (e.g., baseplates, substrates, etc.). In many cases, following this design approach necessitates increasing the size of the silicon switching components used in the module in order to compensate for the alteration of the additional components. For example, conventional small footprint power converter modules (e.g., those with a footprint of approximately 31 mm×66 mm×16 mm) do not include a baseplate to save cost. These small footprint power converter modules have thus become well known in the industry as “baseplate-less” power converter modules. Additionally, these conventional small footprint power converter modules may opt for cheaper materials in the construction of a power substrate therein, which may have reduced thermal performance when compared to more expensive materials. To compensate for any loss in thermal performance due to the alteration of additional components in a conventional power converter module described above, the size of the silicon switching components in the module may be increased. By increasing the size of the silicon switching components, the heat generated by these components is spread out over a larger area, such that the components do not require additional thermal management. Since the additional components in conventional power converter modules are often significantly more expensive than the silicon added by increasing the size of the switching components, such a trade-off results in an overall reduction in cost of the module.